Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal just announced Elon Musk will be joining the company's board of directors.
I’m excited to share that we’re appointing @elonmusk to our board! Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board.
He’s both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need on @Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the long-term. Welcome Elon!
The board appointment, which was also listed in a Twitter SEC filing, comes a day after the news that the Tesla CEO bought a 9.2% minority share in Twitter. After his stake in the company became public on Monday, Musk immediately issued a series of tweets that can't possibly be anything other than absolutely stone-cold sober, take-at-face-value musings, like making a poll about whether free speech is important, and "Oh hi lol." He also teased an edit button with a poll, which CEO Agrawal cheekily endorsed.
The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully. https://t.co/UDJIvznALB
However, Musk’s new role does not necessarily mean he can determine any policies for content or new features. “Twitter is committed to impartiality in the development and enforcement of its policies and rules. Our policy decisions are not determined by the Board or shareholders,” Twitter spokesperson Adrian Zamora said. “As always our Board plays an important advisory and feedback role across the entirety of our service. Our day to day operations and decisions are made by Twitter management and employees.”
Musk's own history with his personal Twitter account is spotty. In 2018, he tweeted that a cave diver who was helping the effort to rescue children trapped in a Thai cave was a "pedo." He later apologized for that on Twitter, but doubled down on it in an email to a BuzzFeed News reporter. He was eventually sued over it by the diver (Musk won the lawsuit).
He was also sued by the SEC in 2018 for tweeting that he had secured funding to take Tesla private if the stock hit $420 (the funny number). He settled, agreeing to pay a $20 million fine to the SEC, resign as chair, and have all his tweets about Telsa's business approved by his lawyers. Last month, lawyers for Musk petitioned to remove the SEC requirement about his tweets, claiming this curbed his free speech.